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Some banks are setting up low interest loan programs only for federal employees. They are low interest and are focused on amounts of 2-3 time your paycheck. Gr
by mr337 8y ago
Some banks are setting up low interest loan programs only for federal employees. They are low interest and are focused on amounts of 2-3 time your paycheck.
Granted the rate things are going that might not be enough.
- Spartan-S63 8y agoNot to mention that low interest loans are sort of predatory in this context, despite being lower than market rate interest rates. I understand that they have a profit a motive, but it doesn't make them the "good guys" in this scenario. There really are no good guys during a government shutdown.
- thenipper 8y agoSeriously, I'd imagine most of the people impacted who need the loans don't necessarily have the income to cover an extra loan payment when this is over.
- dwighttk 8y agokinda depends on the interest rate... look at it as an insurance for the bank against some of the people defaulting on the loans and it isn't predatory.
- excalibur 8y ago> There really are no good guys during a government shutdown. The Canadian air traffic controllers who sent a bunch of pizzas to their American counterparts were pretty good. Also I would argue that people who keep reporting for work when they aren't getting paid and doing their job to the best of their ability aren't too shabby either, no matter what the pundits say about how prepared they should have been.
- AlexTWithBeard 8y agoFirst two results returned by searching for "federal shutdown loan" show 0% interest loans: https://www.navyfederal.org/about/government-shutdown.php https://www.navyfederal.org/about/government-shutdown.php https://www.interiorfcu.org/resources/government-shutdown/ https://www.interiorfcu.org/resources/government-shutdown/ I don't see how is it predatory. Considering that it costs bank about 2% to borrow money this is borderline charity.
- mikeash 8y agoThose are credit unions aimed at federal employees. Which means that a large chunk of their ownership is people affected by the shutdown. That’s not charity so much as helping themselves. Which is still great, obviously, but I wonder how it is for affected people who don’t belong to federal employee credit unions.
- AlexTWithBeard 8y agoChase and Citi have similar programs as well: https://online.citi.com/JRS/pands/detail.do?ID=USGovShutdown&JFP_TOKEN=P9ZONSKP https://online.citi.com/JRS/pands/detail.do?ID=USGovShutdown... https://media.chase.com/news/chase-assists-federal-employees-affected-by-government-shutdown https://media.chase.com/news/chase-assists-federal-employees... It's one of those cases when every dime in interest will cost you a dollar in reputation.
- Consultant32452 8y agoSeveral banks are offering zero percent interest loans. Cheap advertising perhaps, but not predatory loans. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/18/here-are-the-banks-and-credit-unions-helping-federal-workers-.html https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/18/here-are-the-banks-and-credi...
- yardie 8y agoOne of the "no good guys" is used to not paying employees. So there is no good and worse guys.
- notus 8y agoThis feels like disaster capitalism. They are inflating their image by saving the day when it is a responsibility of the state to ensure this doesn't happen and to not use shutdowns as a negotiation tactic. If anything they are just prolonging people getting angry enough to do something about it.
- SamReidHughes 8y agoIf not agreeing to a deal can't be used as a negotiating tactic, what can be?